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Original poster

So why DO they close entire schools just so they can use one room to set up a polling station?

22 replies

AintNobodyHereButUsChickens · 12/12/2019 12:56

It's not like they use every room in the school so why do they have to close the whole school for a day?

OP posts:

noblegiraffe · 12/12/2019 12:57

Safeguarding. The public in around kids?

Comefromaway · 12/12/2019 12:57

Security. Some schools are set up so the polling area can be kept secure, in some this is impossible.

Sparklingbrook · 12/12/2019 12:58

Because you can't have hundreds of strangers going in and out of a school all day while there are children there. Safeguarding I thought?

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kierenthecommunity · 12/12/2019 12:59

They haven’t at my son’s school they’re just closed on if the halls. Still a PITA admittedly as they run after school club in there so that’s cancelled.

Boohooyouho · 12/12/2019 13:00

Our school closes because the parents voted to close it. It’s possible to seal off the room so voters are kept separate from the kids but the parents voted to close the school 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

FoamingAtTheUterus · 12/12/2019 13:02

Fuck knows. Here they use one classroom that has its own entrance off a courtyard thing so absolutely no need to close the school. We don't even have to walk across the playground to get into it !

WeirdPookah · 12/12/2019 13:05

Because the education of 700 kids isn't important enough.

Comefromaway · 12/12/2019 13:06

I've only just found out (because mum mum told me) that ds's school is a polling station.

fromthefloorboardsup · 12/12/2019 13:08

Like others have said it's safeguarding. They are opening the school up to the public and can't check who is in there. It'll depend on the layout of the school - some can open but they'd have to make sure it's secure. Teachers are usually in, just not the kids.

LeekMunchingSheepShagger · 12/12/2019 13:10

Yes it’s for safeguarding reasons. They can’t have random adults having access to the children.

VanyaHargreeves · 12/12/2019 13:14

Because having a criminal record doesn't remove your right to vote and some of the electorate could well be an active or a never caught paedophile

Maryann1975 · 12/12/2019 13:22

I was told a couple of years ago by our headteacher, that she isn’t even allowed in to her office to work on voting day. I seem to remember her saying the voting people saw it as a security issue. The only bit of the school that’s open is the private day nursery attached to the school. I’d rather they shut that bit as far less families would be inconvenienced by it (25 vs 300), but obviously that would never happen because it’s a business not a school.
I’m hoping all the teachers at our school have been given the day off to do their Christmas shopping tbh. I think they all deserve it!

Wtfdoipick · 12/12/2019 13:22

If the room has an outdoor access which is separate and access to the school itself can be locked the school can stay open otherwise it closes on grounds of safety

goodiegoodieyumyum · 12/12/2019 13:22

Just have the election on a Saturday like they do in Australia, problem solved. I never undertstood having elections during the week and closing schools it makes no sense.

Biscuitsdisappear · 12/12/2019 13:23

Security and safeguarding.

SnorkMaiden81 · 12/12/2019 13:28

And also, the kids are going to be really excitable and fractious by all the extra activity.

Apolloanddaphne · 12/12/2019 13:29

I vote in a local school and it is always kept open. Voters come in a back entrance into the hall.

ChessieFL · 12/12/2019 13:32

Yes, it’s safeguarding. The polling station itself may only one room but there has to be access to toilets and also for the polling staff to make hot drinks. Therefore it’s only possible to keep the school open if they can block off public access to the rest of the school while allowing access to those facilities. In our school the polling station is the main hall - that could be locked off but the toilets are in a corridor that can’t be locked from the rest of the school. That’s what I was told by our headteacher anyway.

greeentopmilk · 12/12/2019 13:36

Depends on the layout of the school and whether the public and polling staff can be kept completely separate from school kids.

simonisnotme · 12/12/2019 15:01

security -safeguarding and in case they think you may influence their vote

Itstheprinciple · 12/12/2019 20:53

Our school stays open but it is a large school where there is a separate entrance, access to kitchen facilities and accessible toilet facilities without anyone having to venture into the rest of the school. If that's not possible, the school will have to shut as they can't gave random people wandering about the school.

Phillipa12 · 12/12/2019 21:04

Our school usually stays open as they have a classroom that can be accessed from outside but locked internally. However they made the decision to shut today as they decided that a bigger space was needed for the volume of people expected and the hall was a better choice and this couldnt be separated. They were right, a steady stream of people have been through today and a classroom would not have been sufficent.

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